John Dalton

and the Atomic Theory

John Dalton

and the Atomic Theory

John Dalton Biography

Bio

John Dalton was born on September 6, 1766 with hereditary red-green colorblindness. He belonged to a Quaker family with two siblings, one of them being his brother with the same colorblindness. His family was very poor, resulting in him having a hard time getting an education. In 1793, Dalton became a math and philosophy tutor at New College in Manchester. By 1817, Dalton became president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical society. In1832, he accepted an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the Oxford University. In 1834 he was offered another degree, the Doctorate of Laws from the Edinburgh University. Dalton died on July 26, 1844 after his second stroke. Some of his contributions to the atomic theory are still used even today.

Dalton's Atomic Theory

From Dalton's fascination with gasses, he eventually came to theorize that everything is made of small and individual particles. In his book, A New System of Chemical Philosophy, Dalton explains that atoms of different elements can be distinguished by their weights, and that atoms cannot be created or destroyed. He also wrote about his experiments that proved that molecules of an element are made up of the same proportions. He later says that all atoms of the same element have the same size and weight and made a table that lists the weights of all the known elements of his time. His theories were easily accepted with little to no objections in the scientific community.